Rosary assemblage



Oct 30, 1956 s. J. czERWIcZNlK 2,768,787

ROSARY ASSEMBLAGE f Filed Jan. '7, 1955 n IN V EN TOR.

RSARY ASSEMBLAGE Stanley l. Czerwieznik, Milwaukee, Wis.

Application January 7, 1955, Serial No. 480,553

Claims. (Cl. 23S- 123) The present invention relates in general toimprovements in rosaries, and relates more particularly to improvementsin the construction and operation or assemblages for compactlyconcealing and conrming ordinary rosary chams in pre-arranged conditionwithin housings so as to provide units in which the rosaries may beconveniently carried and manipulated.

The primary object of this invention is to provide an improved rosaryassemblage which is simple and compact in construction, and wherein therosary chain may be easily manipulated to say prayers, while beingconned and positively guided for free longitudinal advancement of itsbeads along a deiinite path within a durable casing.

It has heretofore been proposed to confine rosaries, each comprising asuccession of prayer designating beads, Within casings or housings sothat the chains or strings of beads could be manipulated from theexteriors of the enclosures to cause the same to traverse definite pathsso as to avoid entanglement of the chains while facilitating the sayingof prayers. Most of these prior rosary assemblages require the use ofcomplicated movable parts Such as rotors cooperating with the rosarychains, but in one of the prior rosary units the chain of beads iscaused to slidably coact with stationary circuitous runways formedWithin the conning housing which is provided with a local peripheralaccess opening through which the beads can be advanced by hand whileprayers are being said.

Although this prior unit with stationary guides or runways has provenquite satisfactory and superior to those employing movable carriers forthe rosaries, it has been found diicult in commercial production toconstantly insure free sliding of the beads along the runways because ofslight initial variation in lengths of the guides and rosary strings,and also due to such variations as may be caused by expansion orcontraction of the guides and chains resulting from temperature changes.

It is therefore an important object of the present invention to providean improved rosary assemblage of the type embodying xed guides for arosary chain conned within a casing, wherein free longitudinaladvancement of the rosary beads is assured at all times.

Another important object of this invention is to provide an improvedmechanical rosary unit in which more or less standard rosary chains maybe freely slidably conned within rigid housings so as to eliminatepossible undesirable retardation and entanglement of the beads.

A further important object of the invention is to provide an assemblagewherein a rosary or" relatively great length is compactly confinedwithin a small casing so as to produce a unit adapted to be readilycarried in a pocket or hand bag, and in which the rosary beads areconveniently manipulable with minimum effort,

Still another important object of the present invention is to provide animproved mechanical rosary comprising an endless chain of rosary beadsslidably coacting with a circuitous guideway disposed within anenclosure, and in which the chain is properly tensioned at all times soas to insure free sliding of the successive beads.

States Patent O Patented Oct. 3i",

ICC

An additional important object of this invention is to provide a simplebut highly practical rosary assemblage which may be durably manufacturedand sold at moderate cost and easily operated.

These and other more specic objects and advantages of the invention willbe apparent from the following detailed description, from which itshould be noted that the gist of the improvement is the provision of arosary assemblage in which a casing is provided with an internalguideway having an access opening near the casing periphery, and arosary bead chain is slidably cooperable with the guideway so as topresent the successive beads to the opening, while the chain isautomatically tensioned by the application of resilient pressurethereagainst in order to insure free advancement of the beads along theguideway.

A clear conception of the features involved in the present invention andof a typical commercial embodiment of the improved features, may be hadby referring to the drawing accompanying and forming a part of thisspecification in which like reference characters designate the same orsimilar parts in the various views.

Fig. l is a plan view of a typical commercial embodiment of theinvention looking toward the cover portion of the rosary housing, theassemblage being illustrated approximately full size;

Fig. 2 is a similar view of the same rosary assemblage but with thehousing cover removed so as to reveal the internal guideway, the rosarychain, and the improved chain tensioning device;

Fig. 3 is considerably enlarged central vertical section through therosary unit, taken along the line 3 3 oi Fig. Z but with the housingcompleted by the application of the cover;

Fig. 4 is a similarly enlarged transverse section through the same unit,taken along the line 4 4 of Fig. 2, but also showing the cover applied;and

Fig. 5 is a likewise enlarged transverse section through the assemblage,taken along the line S-S of Fig. 2, and again showing the housing coverapplied.

While the invention has been illustrated and described herein as havingbeen embodied in a unit having a relatively long rosary chain housedwithin a casing comprising complementary main casing and cover sectionsof heart shape united along the approximate plane of advancement of thechain, and wherein the chain is tensioned by a particular type of leafspring, it is not the intent to thereby unnecessarily restrict the useor" the improved features to such a specific assemblage; and it is alsocontemplated that descriptive terms employed herein be given thebroadest possible interpretation consistent with the actual disclosure.

Referring to the drawing, the improved rosary assemblage shown therein,comprises in general, a two-part housing or casing consisting of a mainsection 8 and a complementary cover section 9 cooperating to form acircuitous guideway having an inner downwardly interrupted loop portion14) and an upwardly interrupted outer portion 11 provided with an accessopening 12 near the casing periphery; a continuous ilexible rosary chainhaving an uninterrupted succession of beads 13 slidably cooperable withthe guideway portions 14E, 11 so as to present the successive beads tothe casing opening 12; and a resilient leaf spring 14 disposed withinthe interruption in the loop portion 10 of the guideway and pressingagainst the adjacent rosary beads 13 to tension the chain.

The complementary sections S, 9 of the main housing may be formed of anylight but relatively rigid and durable material such as metal, wood orplastic, and may be united along their coacting edge surfaces 16 byfusion of metal, with adhesive, or otherwise; and in order to facilitateassembly, the main section 8 may be provided with a central socket 17adapted to receive an integral projection 1S formed on the cover section9, as shown in Pig. 3. As illustrated, the guideway portions lo, lll areformed integral with the main section S of the casing, and the coversection alone is provided with religious embossment i9, while the entirehousing partakes the shape of a heart, but these speciic formations donot constitute an essential part of the present improvement. rl`heopening 12 in the periphery of the enclosure should be of considerablelength and disposed near the outer guideway portion il so as to causethe beads 13 which travel past this opening to project outwardly of thecasing, as depicted in Figs. l and 2.

The rosary beads i3 are interconnected by chain links 21 which allowfree exing of the rosary, and some of the beads i3 may be made largerand of different shapes in order to represent definite decades, such asHail Mary, Our Fathers, and a Crucifix. These special beads may also beof various special colors, and are preferably seprated from theintervening normal spacer beads 13 by longer or more links Zi than areprovided directly between the adjacent spacer beads. As illustrated inthe drawing, the rosary chain is of relatively great length andconstitutes a complete rosary of tive decades; and While the chain isadapted to travel in only a single stretch along the outer guidewayportion il, it travels in double loop formation around the inner portionl@ of the guideway, as depicted in Figs. 4 and 5.

The chain tensioning leaf spring 14- is of U-shape and cooperates withthe inner guideway portion l@ to form the loops, see Fig. 2. One end 22of this spring 14; is insertihle between lugs 23 formed integral withthe casing section 8 to positively prevent movement of this spring end22, while the remainder of the leaf spring is biased outwardly so as toexert a slight lateral pressure against the rosary chain and to therebytension the endless rosary. Y

The surface of the guideway sections itl, lli and of the spring i4, withwhich the rosary beads i3 coact and along which these beads are adaptedto travel, should however be smooth in the direction of advancement ofthe chain in order to facilitate such advancement by normal pressureapplied to the beads i3 which are exposed through the manipulatingopening il When the various parts of the improved rosary unit have beenproperly constructed as above described, they may be assembled andutilized as follows. With the casing or housing sections 8, 9 separated,the chain tensioning spring 14 may be initially inserted within the mainhousing section S so that its attaching end 22 coacts with the lugs 23as in Fig. 2, whereupon the rosary chain may be applied to the innerloop portion 1li of the guideway and to the leaf spring 14 in doubleloop formation, and to the outer guideway portion il in single loopformation as depicted in Figs. 2 to 5 inclusive. rEhe cover section 9 ofthe casing may then be secured to the section S along the surfaces lo inorder to confine the rosary within the housing, whereupon the spring idwill function to tension and stretch the chain so as to'cause the beads13 to snugly but slidably co-act with the fixed guideway portions it),lll.

With the unit thus completely assembled, it may be utilized to sayprayers by merely applying a tinger or the thumb of the user to one ofthe beads 13 which is exposed through the casing opening ft2 and byexerting slight pressure against the contacted bead 13 longitudinally ofthe chain This pressure will cause the rosary to advance along the fixedinternal guideway and to thereby present the successive rosary beads tothe operators ngers througr the casing opening l2, but the major portionof the chainvwiil remain constantly concealed within and protected bythe housing under slight longitudinal tension applied by the leaf springi4, so that no entanglement of the chain can occur. The various sizesand shapes of the successive rosary beads i3 and the diiferent spacingsthereof will definitely indicate to the user whenever a ai, decade ispresented to the touch, so that accuracy of performance is assured atall times.

From the foregoing detailed description it will be noted that thepresent invention provides a simple and very compact and attractiverosary assemblage in which a cornplete relatively standard rosary isneatly slidably confined under slight constant tension within a rigidcasing While being conveniently manipulable to say prayers. The improveddevice may be readily carried in a pocket or handbag and may be operatedany place and at any time without necessitating visual observance by theuser, and it is also ideal for church and group recitations. The usermay hold the unit concealed in the palm of one hand and may advance therosary chain while saying a few beads or the entire rosary, with afinger or the thumb of the other hand, and all danger of entanglement orsticking of the long chain is constantly eliminated by the chaintensioning spring ld which still permits easy advancement of the beadsi3. The invention has proven highly satisfactory and successful inactual use and the housing sections 8, 9 may be of any desired shape anddecorated in any suitable manner to provide a highly attractive unit.

it should be understood that it is not desired to limit this inventionto the exact details of construction of the rosary assemblage hereinspecifically shown and described, for various modifications Within thescope of the appended claims may occur to persons skilled in the art.

I claim:

l. ln combination, a rigid casing having therein a relatively rigidfixed circuitous guideway comprising an interrupted loop sectioncoacting with the opposite ends of an interrupted outer groove sectionprovided with a local access opening, a continuous rosary chain having asuccession of beads engageaole with and slidable along said guideway byapplication of pressure against the beads in a direction longitudinallyof the chain through said opening, and resilient chain tensioning meansdisposed within the interruption of said guideway loop section.

Z. In combination, a casing having therein a tixed circuitous locallyinterrupted guideway provided with a local access opening near thecasing periphery, a continuous rosary chain slidably engaging saidguideway and being movable along the latter by application of pressureagainst the chain through said opening, and a leaf spring lfor exertinglateral resilient pressure against the chain through the interruption insaid guideway.

3. In combination, a casing having coacting main and cover sectionsprovided with an internal fixed guideway comprising an inner locallyVinterrupted loop portion and an outer portion surrounding the loopportion and having therein an access opening near the casing periphery,a continuous rosary chain having a succession of beads slidable alongsaid guideway by application of pressure against its beads in adirection longitudinally of the chain, and a U-shaped leaf springlocated vin the interruption of said loop portion and coacting with saidbeads to tension the chain.

4. ln combination, a casing having therein a circuitous locallyinterrupted guideway provided with an access opening near the casingperiphery, a continuous rosary chain slidably engaging said guideway andbeing movable therealong by application of longitudinal pressure againstthe chain through said opening, and a spring for guiding and tensioningthe chain lat the interruption in said guideway. i i Y 5. incombination, a casing provided with an internal guideway comprising aninternal locally interrupted loop portion and an outer portionsurrounding the loop portion and having therein a local access opening,a continuous rosary chain having a succession of beads slidable alongsaid guideway by application of longitudinal pressure against the chainthrough said opening, and a U- shaped spring coacting with said beads attheV interruption in said internal loop portion to guide and tension thechain.

References Cited in the le of this patent 6 McCann Aug. 1, 1944 ErikssonNov. 8, 1949 Bengtson May 8, 1951 Czerwicznik Sept. 15, 1953

